In the beginning God created the world. When he created it, it was good. He created fish and animals, trees and flowers, stars and planets. But the best part of his creation, the one thing he created in his own image, were man and woman. He knew them, and he loved them. But humans disobeyed God, they departed from him, and as a result, they hated God. Their relationship was shattered.

God relentlessly pursued humanity, and pursued them, and pursued them. And humans rejected him, and rejected him, and rejected him. The result of humanity's disobedience and sin, was death. They were set to be punished for what they did and spend an eternity apart from the God who loved them. Yet, God loved them so much that he sent his only son—who is also fully God—to take the punishment for us so that we could enjoy a full and lasting relationship with our creator.

The Bible says that this was a gift of God, that he saved us while we were still sinners, that the evidence of God's love, was his son, Jesus Christ. Jesus came to the earth, God became man, and he lived a perfect life. He was later punished for a crime he didn't commit and was sentenced to death by crucifixion. He died and was buried in a tomb that had an enormous stone placed over the entrance. Yet three days after he was put on the cross and died, he rose from the dead! Think about that for a second. Jesus rose from the dead. Death has absolutely no hold over him. He proclaimed victory over death and over sin and bridged the gap between God and humanity.

Now all that we have to receive eternal life and have our relationship restored to God is to believe in Jesus Christ. To believe that God became man, died on a cross, and rose from the grave three days later. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him, shall not die, but have everlasting life."

If you would like more information on this, or would like to talk about it with someone at our church, then email questions@hgcusa.org.